Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he plans to take legislative steps to place a statutory duty on leaders in the (a) public and (b) private sectors to embed (i) inclusive governance and (ii) protective leadership practices.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Companies Act 2006 requires directors to have regard to employee interests and to the impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment. The UK Corporate Governance Code includes provisions that support inclusive governance, including mechanisms to enable the workforce to engage with directors and for workers to raise concerns in confidence. The Public Sector Equality Duty in the Equality Act 2010 requires public authorities, and those carrying out public functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 20673 on Haythornthwaite Review of Armed Forces Incentivisation, whether his Department plans to implement recommendation 63 on making the requirement to build an inclusive culture a core part of expected leadership behaviours against which leaders are judged.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Government acknowledges the important work done in the Haythornthwaite Review of Armed Forces Incentivisation (HRAFI) report completed under the previous Government.
The Government is delivering a comprehensive portfolio of work to fix the people system, and this captures many of the recommendations of the HRAFI report, but goes much further. The portfolio is organised around five Missions aligned to the key themes of the report. These Missions will form the basis of all future work delivered across the People Function.
Defence has been taking forward work that directly addresses the majority of the reports 67 recommendations. To deliver a workforce that is highly skilled and productive, meeting the demands Defence is likely to experience, and helping ensure benefits are felt by our people as soon as possible.
Progress is constantly monitored and reported on through the governance structure to ensure real time oversight.
The progress made within each Mission is summarised below:
1. Workforce Agility. Delivering the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time will result in a reduced number of gaps across the workforce, increase the percentage of deployable Suitably Qualified and Experienced People and enable more effective and intelligent management of the workforce to support operational effectiveness. This will, in turn be a more rewarding use of Service personnel’s skills, supporting their development and becoming a key lever to satisfaction and retention.
Work is underway to improve engagement with veterans, understand how to make better use of the Reserve forces and make improvements to the workforce planning. The Armed Forces Recruitment Programme will deliver a tri-service recruitment solution by 2027.
2. Skills. This Government will build Defence as a world-class engine for a skills-based approach to recruitment, workforce planning and increased operational effectiveness. This includes the Pan-Defence Skills Framework (PDSF) which will start to be implemented later this year, will represent the first important milestone towards becoming a truly Skills-Based Organisation. A PDSF skills-based pay supplement is being developed to be tested with a cohort of engineers from spring 2025.
3. Reward. In direct response to recommendation 24 of the report, work has begun to trial aspects of a Total Reward Approach with a cohort of engineers to help understand what our people really value in their reward and benefits package, and to inform prioritisation of initiatives. Release 1 initiatives are starting to be rolled out and will see improvements for the cohort of engineers and more widely, including targeted Financial Retention Incentive payments to some of this cohort as well as to junior ranks across the Army. The evaluation of initiatives within Release 1 will inform and shape future reward packages across Defence; an approach advocated by HRAFI.
Within this Mission, we have also recently announced an improved offer for overseas families, with the expansion of the wraparound childcare scheme. We are also continuing our work to strengthen the Armed Forces Covenant in law. This Government also awarded personnel the highest pay rise in 20 years.
Taking a future-focused approach, understanding what drives the retention and recruitment of target generations and using financial and non-financial levers to stabilise and motivate the workforce we aim to attract new talent, incentivise reward and develop a bespoke reward landscape for a better experience for our people and their families.
4. Digital. This focuses on providing a consumer-grade, user experience, which was a big emphasis within the report (chapter three was devoted to this). Delivery of the objectives under the well-established Corporate Services Modernisation and Defence Human Resources Services programmes will go some way to achieving the intent of the report. In line with this, progress is being made with the simplification of policy across military and Civilian systems, supported by the roll out of consistent HR taxonomy. This will deliver an improved lived experience enabled through intuitive, accessible and responsive HR and digital services that meet employee needs in a timely and user-friendly manner; ultimately driving enhanced employee satisfaction.
5. One Defence. This Mission recognises the extent of the cultural challenge that we face in many areas and much of this is captured under our Raising our Standards programme. More specifically, work is underway to review the Service Justice System and Service Complaints process. Defence Reform will make recommendations for a more effective People Department. Underlining the government’s commitment to addressing welfare concerns within the Armed Forces, the Armed Forces Commissioner Bill continues its passage through Parliament. The ultimate goal is to deliver a workforce that harnesses all talents.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to create 43 Hub Lead Organisations by Arts Council England on the future of (a) Music Education Hubs and (b) the wider music provision at schools.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Music Hubs are partnerships co-ordinated by a Hub Lead Organisation (HLO) and made up of schools and academy trusts, local authorities, music and wider arts and education organisations and charities, community or youth organisations and more. Having 43 HLOs working across a wider set of music education partnerships from September 2024 should bring significant benefits to children, young people and schools, as HLOs will be able to be more strategic, building stronger partnerships with those they work with, resulting in high-quality support in every local area and to ensure there are no local ‘cold spots’ where access to provision is limited.
This should also support a more consistent high-quality approach to music education for all children regardless of where they live or go to school, by offering:
Schools alone cannot provide the range of services needed for a good quality music education and Music Hubs provide many services that contribute to schools delivering high-quality music provision. Furthermore, Music Hubs will play a critical role in supporting schools who opt to implement the Model Music Curriculum published in 2021 and for schools implementing their Music Development Plans from September 2024. In time, Music Hubs will also support schools opting to use music curriculum resources from Oak National Academy, who will publish their full suite of key stage 3 and 4 resources in the summer and who recently announced a partner to produce a suite of key stages 1 and 2 resources.
The government has a long-standing commitment to high-quality music education and this is reflected in the government’s National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022. This sets out the vision to enable all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally by 2030. The department believes that Music Hubs play a vital role in ensuring children and young people across the country can access high-quality music education and this government values the many achievements that the existing Music Hub network has made since 2012.
The department has invested around £380 million of funding into Music Hubs between 2016 and 2021. As part of the National Plan for Music Education 2022, the department also announced £79 million of funding per year for the Music Hub programme, up to and including the 2024/25 academic year, to provide assurance and stability in music education. The department is also providing £25 million capital funding for musical instruments as part of the programme. The department will consider future funding for the next spending review in due course.
On average, the grant funding has consistently provided around 40% of a hub’s total income and hubs have historically used this to leverage other income streams over the lifespan of the programme. This co-funding approach will continue when the new programme is in place from September 2024. As set out in the investment programme, the department also expects organisations to have evidenced, as part of their applications to become one of the new HLOs, how at least 50% of a hub’s total income will come from other sources other than the revenue grant provided by the department by the end of the funding period.
There is no expectation on Music Hubs to provide free music tuition to all children. As part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, bidders were required to submit plans detailing their strategic approach to ensure music education is inclusive of all children and young people with a range of needs, including how the Music Hub would ensure inclusion and widening opportunity will be embedded across all activity, plans and policies. This includes specific support and resources, including access to musical instruments, that will be made available for children and young people who are eligible for pupil premium, including looked-after children and/or those who are care experienced and those who have an identified special educational need or disability.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support schools to offer high quality music provision for all children (a) in the curriculum and (b) through (i) local authority-run and (ii) independent Music Education Hubs.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Music Hubs are partnerships co-ordinated by a Hub Lead Organisation (HLO) and made up of schools and academy trusts, local authorities, music and wider arts and education organisations and charities, community or youth organisations and more. Having 43 HLOs working across a wider set of music education partnerships from September 2024 should bring significant benefits to children, young people and schools, as HLOs will be able to be more strategic, building stronger partnerships with those they work with, resulting in high-quality support in every local area and to ensure there are no local ‘cold spots’ where access to provision is limited.
This should also support a more consistent high-quality approach to music education for all children regardless of where they live or go to school, by offering:
Schools alone cannot provide the range of services needed for a good quality music education and Music Hubs provide many services that contribute to schools delivering high-quality music provision. Furthermore, Music Hubs will play a critical role in supporting schools who opt to implement the Model Music Curriculum published in 2021 and for schools implementing their Music Development Plans from September 2024. In time, Music Hubs will also support schools opting to use music curriculum resources from Oak National Academy, who will publish their full suite of key stage 3 and 4 resources in the summer and who recently announced a partner to produce a suite of key stages 1 and 2 resources.
The government has a long-standing commitment to high-quality music education and this is reflected in the government’s National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022. This sets out the vision to enable all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally by 2030. The department believes that Music Hubs play a vital role in ensuring children and young people across the country can access high-quality music education and this government values the many achievements that the existing Music Hub network has made since 2012.
The department has invested around £380 million of funding into Music Hubs between 2016 and 2021. As part of the National Plan for Music Education 2022, the department also announced £79 million of funding per year for the Music Hub programme, up to and including the 2024/25 academic year, to provide assurance and stability in music education. The department is also providing £25 million capital funding for musical instruments as part of the programme. The department will consider future funding for the next spending review in due course.
On average, the grant funding has consistently provided around 40% of a hub’s total income and hubs have historically used this to leverage other income streams over the lifespan of the programme. This co-funding approach will continue when the new programme is in place from September 2024. As set out in the investment programme, the department also expects organisations to have evidenced, as part of their applications to become one of the new HLOs, how at least 50% of a hub’s total income will come from other sources other than the revenue grant provided by the department by the end of the funding period.
There is no expectation on Music Hubs to provide free music tuition to all children. As part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, bidders were required to submit plans detailing their strategic approach to ensure music education is inclusive of all children and young people with a range of needs, including how the Music Hub would ensure inclusion and widening opportunity will be embedded across all activity, plans and policies. This includes specific support and resources, including access to musical instruments, that will be made available for children and young people who are eligible for pupil premium, including looked-after children and/or those who are care experienced and those who have an identified special educational need or disability.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Government’s Music Hub Investment Programme will support independent Music Education Hubs to provide free music education to all children.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Music Hubs are partnerships co-ordinated by a Hub Lead Organisation (HLO) and made up of schools and academy trusts, local authorities, music and wider arts and education organisations and charities, community or youth organisations and more. Having 43 HLOs working across a wider set of music education partnerships from September 2024 should bring significant benefits to children, young people and schools, as HLOs will be able to be more strategic, building stronger partnerships with those they work with, resulting in high-quality support in every local area and to ensure there are no local ‘cold spots’ where access to provision is limited.
This should also support a more consistent high-quality approach to music education for all children regardless of where they live or go to school, by offering:
Schools alone cannot provide the range of services needed for a good quality music education and Music Hubs provide many services that contribute to schools delivering high-quality music provision. Furthermore, Music Hubs will play a critical role in supporting schools who opt to implement the Model Music Curriculum published in 2021 and for schools implementing their Music Development Plans from September 2024. In time, Music Hubs will also support schools opting to use music curriculum resources from Oak National Academy, who will publish their full suite of key stage 3 and 4 resources in the summer and who recently announced a partner to produce a suite of key stages 1 and 2 resources.
The government has a long-standing commitment to high-quality music education and this is reflected in the government’s National Plan for Music Education published in June 2022. This sets out the vision to enable all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally by 2030. The department believes that Music Hubs play a vital role in ensuring children and young people across the country can access high-quality music education and this government values the many achievements that the existing Music Hub network has made since 2012.
The department has invested around £380 million of funding into Music Hubs between 2016 and 2021. As part of the National Plan for Music Education 2022, the department also announced £79 million of funding per year for the Music Hub programme, up to and including the 2024/25 academic year, to provide assurance and stability in music education. The department is also providing £25 million capital funding for musical instruments as part of the programme. The department will consider future funding for the next spending review in due course.
On average, the grant funding has consistently provided around 40% of a hub’s total income and hubs have historically used this to leverage other income streams over the lifespan of the programme. This co-funding approach will continue when the new programme is in place from September 2024. As set out in the investment programme, the department also expects organisations to have evidenced, as part of their applications to become one of the new HLOs, how at least 50% of a hub’s total income will come from other sources other than the revenue grant provided by the department by the end of the funding period.
There is no expectation on Music Hubs to provide free music tuition to all children. As part of the Music Hubs Investment Programme, bidders were required to submit plans detailing their strategic approach to ensure music education is inclusive of all children and young people with a range of needs, including how the Music Hub would ensure inclusion and widening opportunity will be embedded across all activity, plans and policies. This includes specific support and resources, including access to musical instruments, that will be made available for children and young people who are eligible for pupil premium, including looked-after children and/or those who are care experienced and those who have an identified special educational need or disability.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more (a) women, (b) men, (c) people from ethnic minority backgrounds and (d) people from lower social-economic backgrounds to become school leaders.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants teaching to be an inclusive profession where teachers from all backgrounds are supported throughout their career, from the moment they enter the profession, through their continued development as teachers and as they progress into leadership.
Recruitment campaigns for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are targeted at students, recent graduates and potential career changers regardless of their identity or background.
Apply for Teacher Training, the new application service for ITT in England, was rolled out nationally in 2021. It has been designed to be user friendly and has been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants to ensure it helps remove barriers to great teachers applying for ITT courses.
The Department’s world class teacher development programmes, such as National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), are designed to support all teachers through to executive headship, and are designed to reach as many people as possible, regardless of their background. Since autumn 2021, eligible teachers and headteachers have been able to access scholarships to undertake fully funded NPQs and 51,518 qualifications have been started so far.
Flexible working supports equality of opportunity in the workforce and can help women to stay in the workforce and progress. The Department is taking action to promote flexible working in schools. This includes publishing resources and guidance on GOV.UK and funding a programme of support, including webinars with a focus on how flexible working can support diversity and inclusion.
Governors have an important role to play in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion when appointing headteachers. Guidance states that school governance boards are expected to have an understanding of, and an adherence to, the Equality Act 2010, promoting equality and diversity throughout the organisation including in relation to its own operation. They should understand the full diversity of the cultural context of the school and community they serve and are reminded of this in the department’s Governance Handbook: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook, and in the current guidance on recruiting a headteacher: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruiting-a-headteacher.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more (a) women, (b) men, (c) people from ethnic minority backgrounds and (d) people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to become teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants teaching to be an inclusive profession where teachers from all backgrounds are supported throughout their career, from the moment they enter the profession, through their continued development as teachers and as they progress into leadership.
Recruitment campaigns for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) are targeted at students, recent graduates and potential career changers regardless of their identity or background.
Apply for Teacher Training, the new application service for ITT in England, was rolled out nationally in 2021. It has been designed to be user friendly and has been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants to ensure it helps remove barriers to great teachers applying for ITT courses.
The Department’s world class teacher development programmes, such as National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), are designed to support all teachers through to executive headship, and are designed to reach as many people as possible, regardless of their background. Since autumn 2021, eligible teachers and headteachers have been able to access scholarships to undertake fully funded NPQs and 51,518 qualifications have been started so far.
Flexible working supports equality of opportunity in the workforce and can help women to stay in the workforce and progress. The Department is taking action to promote flexible working in schools. This includes publishing resources and guidance on GOV.UK and funding a programme of support, including webinars with a focus on how flexible working can support diversity and inclusion.
Governors have an important role to play in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion when appointing headteachers. Guidance states that school governance boards are expected to have an understanding of, and an adherence to, the Equality Act 2010, promoting equality and diversity throughout the organisation including in relation to its own operation. They should understand the full diversity of the cultural context of the school and community they serve and are reminded of this in the department’s Governance Handbook: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook, and in the current guidance on recruiting a headteacher: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruiting-a-headteacher.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to increase diversity in senior leadership teams in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department actively monitors diversity data, including leadership data, through published reports such as: ‘School leadership in England 2010 to 2020: characteristics and trends (April 2022)’, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-leadership-in-england-2010-to-2020-characteristics-and-trends. It is also monitored through ‘Working lives of teachers and leaders – wave 1 (April 2023)’, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-lives-of-teachers-and-leaders-wave-1.
Results show improvements over time in representation of some groups in leadership. However, some groups remain underrepresented in the teaching workforce and at leadership level.
The Department’s world class teacher development programmes, such as National Professional Qualifications, are designed to support all teachers through to executive headship and to reach as many people as possible, regardless of their background.
Governors have an important role to play in promoting diversity, equality and inclusion when appointing school leaders and guidance from the Department makes this clear.
School governance boards are expected to have an understanding of, and an adherence to, the Equalities Act 2010, promoting equality and diversity throughout the organisation, including in relation to its own operation. They should understand the full diversity of the cultural context of the school and community they serve as set out in the Governance Handbook and in the current guidance on recruiting a headteacher, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruiting-a-headteacher.
High quality trusts should ensure inclusive working environments, support flexible working, and take action to promote equality and diversity for the teaching workforce as recommended in the published descriptions of trust quality, which can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1152301/Trust_Quality_Descriptions.pdf.
The Government has also issued new guidance to assist employers with applying positive action in the workplace. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/positive-action-in-the-workplace-guidance-for-employers.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to help (a) support village cricket clubs and (b) increase the number of people playing cricket in England.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. DCMS is working alongside Sport England in order to support their ten year strategy to drive up participation rates across all sports, including cricket.
Sport England has invested more than £23 million into cricket over the last five years, including more than £3.9 million to support grassroots clubs through the immediate challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. In North East Hampshire, Stratfield Turgis & Hartley Wespall Cricket Club received £20,000 in 2018 as part of the Community Asset Fund and £3,600 through the ‘Return to Play Fund’ last summer, to support adaptations for the return of cricket post-pandemic.
Sport England funding to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) focuses on tackling the inequalities which exist within the game, such as expanding the talent pathway for the women’s and girls game, increasing opportunities for disabled children and supporting governance reform and inclusive leadership support across the County Network.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who will be responsible for implementing the recommendations of General Sir Gordon Messenger’s health and social care review entitled, Leadership for a collaborative and inclusive future, published in June 2022; what the timetable for implementation is; and what financial and other resources will be available for implementation.
Answered by Edward Argar
An implementation plan will be developed through discussions with stakeholders in health and care, including a timetable for delivery. Appropriate governance and accountability arrangements will be established for a review implementation office, with a direct mandate from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. This will also include annual priorities and resourcing requirements, which will be met from existing budgets.